The Bulls' Derrick Rose drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan April 15, 2012.

The Bulls' Derrick Rose drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan April 15, 2012. (Tim Fuller-US Presswire)

Not even Linsanity could keep the Bulls’ Derrick Rose from having the NBA’s top selling jersey.

The reigning NBA MVP claimed the top spot on the list released Thursday by the NBA -- which is based on sales at the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue and on nbastore.com from April 2011 to present – after finishing fifth on the list last year.

To Jeremy Lin’s credit, his jersey didn’t begin selling until mid-February. That means the New York Knicks underdog sold more jerseys in two months than the Los Angels Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (No. 3), Miami Heat’s LeBron James (No. 4) and Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony (No. 5) each sold in a year.

Rose was the only Bulls player in the top 15, but the Bulls still finished first in team merchandise sales for the first time since April 2001. The Lakers had been No. 1 in merchandise sales since the end of the 2008 season up until this year.

Heads up: Speaking of jerseys, Devin Hester will promote Nike’s new Bears jersey at the Dick’s Sporting Goods in Lombard Friday. ... WWE Champion and Lombard native CM Punk will throw out first pitch and sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the Cubs-Atlanta Brave game May 8 at Wrigley Field. ... The New Orleans Saints' Pierre Thomas tweeted that he will attend the grand opening of the Angry Hero clothing store on S. Canalport Avenue May 11.

On the record: “The story is going in a different direction now. Ehren Kruger (who wrote the past two Transformers movies) is writing it for us, and we're starting to engage, but I can't say anything more. – Paramount Film Group president AdamGoodman talks “Transformers 4” with the Hollywood Reporter. The previous film in the franchise, 2011's “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” filmed partly in Chicago.

Good news:Reel Chicago is reporting that NBC could give the Dick Wolfe firefighter pilot, “Chicago Fire,” which filmed in Chicago in March, the greenlight for a 12-episode season by May 14. “Chicago Fire” features former “House” actor Jesse Spencer and former “Vampire Diaries” actor Taylor Kinney, who is rumored to be dating Lady Gaga (that's why Gaga was here so often last month).

Around the web: RedEye asked celebs -- including Salma Hayek, Emily Blunt, Ice Cube and Seann William Scott -- what they think of Chicago. Click here to read what they said.

Sightings: The Bears’ Jay Cutler and fiancee Kristin Cavallari were spotted Saturday with fellow Bear Brandon Marshall and his wife Michi Nogami-Marshall at the Bulls-Dallas Mavericks game and at Joe’s Stone Crab. The Bears’ Brian Urlacher and actress Jenny McCarthy also happened to be dining at Joe’s that night, not far from the double date. Marshall visited with children at the By the Hand after-school program in Chicago Wednesday and tweeted this photo from his visit. … The St. Louis Cardinals’ David Freese and Matt Holliday had dinner at Joe’s Sunday. ... David Bromstad, the seaons one winner of HGTV’s "Design Star," dined with friends at Nellcote Monday.

Watch this:R. Kelly’s new music video for “Share My Love,” which was filmed at Angels & Kings in the Hard Rock hotel, isn’t all that interesting. But his behind-the-scenes video for the shoot? It doesn't disappoint. Kelly literally flirts with the camera (00:43 mark) and then feels the need to explain his “populate” lyric in the song (2:58). You know, because we couldn't figure it out on our own.

A day after Trevor Noah was declared the new host of "The Daily Show," his graphic tweets targeting women and Jews are causing a social media backlash and Comedy Central is defending its newest late-night star.

Ronit Bezalel has seen just about everything on Chicago bike paths, but on her Monday morning commute she saw something that shocked even her: A silver Buick, almost unscathed, in the middle of the bike path.